Just a month ago, on the Facebook page of the Kiev Committee of the Dante Alighier Societyi, a picture of a mask had been posted. It was February 17th, less than a month ago. We wanted to remember how important Carnival was in Italy also in cultural terms, specifying that each region of Italy has its own mask that represents it. A few days before the war, life in Kiev was still more or less normal. Just scroll through a few posts, between an image of Judith with the head of Holofernes by Giorgione (under the heading 'Italian art') and a recipe for canestrelli biscuits. To arrive at Thursday 24 February, the date of the first post of the war, "Russia has invaded Ukraine".
And then the appeal for a ceasefire by the president of the Sant'Egidio community Andrea Riccardi, an information platform on the war, many videos of the Ukrainian president Zelensky, a photo of the fire at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. The updates of the Fb page of the Dante Alighieri of Kiev stop last March 6th, in a city which, according to the mayor of the Ukrainian capital, has emptied itself of half its population. And where trenches are being built in public and private parks and gardens.
The story of Alona Kliuieva who taught Italian in Kiev before the war
The very young Alona Kliuieva worked at the Dante Alighieri Society of the Ukrainian capital, in the last few days guest on several occasions of the programs Otto e mezzo and L'aria che tira su La7. Alona Kliuieva teaches Italian at La Dante in Kiev which promotes the study of our language and culture in Ukraine. Her story about her is partly Italian and she originates in Vicenza. Growing up in an orphanage, Alona lived in our country for a long time because she was adopted by a family from the city since she was six. And she was also in Italy in February to celebrate the birthday of her Italian father.
"Away from Ukraine I felt guilty, I couldn't wait to go back to my country at war"
"When I woke up on the morning of February 24 and heard that war had broken out in my country - explained Alona to the microphones of La7 - I did not rest, that night I had slept peacefully while my friends were living in hell. I felt guilty, I couldn't wait to go back to Ukraine. I took the first bus that left from Rome. It seemed to me that I had abandoned my people, I could not fail to return".
Courageously and without hesitation, the young woman added that she would also be ready to enlist, but once she reached Ukraine she realized that it would be more useful to volunteer to help refugees and children. To support them in finding a place to temporarily live, to eat. Alona had joined Dante Alighieri in Kiev after having attended the faculty of Pharmacy for some years. THEn these dramatic days she decided to return to Ukraine because far from her people and her land she would not have felt at peace with herself. But also because it could be useful for treating the wounded. It could help them regain courage - these are his words - even under the bombings.
Between mothers and lonely children, the Lviv assistance center housed in two rooms of the railway station
On the return trip to Kiev, Alona decided to stop at Lviv, right after the border between Poland and Ukraine, where it still stands these days. Here she is engaged in a service center, two rooms in the train station used for this purpose. She takes care of single mothers with children, of children, those fleeing the war, alone, without relatives and parents. We saw her intervene at Eight and a Half also a few nights ago, a girl's face with so much strength and so many smiles despite the drama that surrounds her. Around her Ukrainian refugee children. Many, more every day. Who draw, who play, who tell dramatic stories with the simplicity of childhood. "It is difficult to find words - explains Alona to La7- and relate these dramatic stories that I listen to on a daily basis. Yet children do not cry, and they find the strength, almost unconscious, to talk about their future. There are those who dream of traveling a lot under the bombs, those who hope to learn many languages".
